Episode Promotional Offer: Mile 40 Listeners receive 40% off a first coaching session with Bishoy. Send an email to bishoy@bishoytadros.com and use the subject "My Comeback Story" to claim the offer. On episode 174 of Mile 40 Podcast, host Bishoy Tadros sits down with Onno Koelman, a former national champion water polo player from Stanford, mechanical engineer, and now a coach to C-suite executives at global giants like Google and Apple. Growing up in Australia, Onno’s journey was anything but ordinary, shaped by an international upbringing, family challenges, and the loss of his brother, which inspired a relentless drive for growth, resilience, and empathy. In this heartfelt conversation, Onno opens up about how formative moments, from being thrust into responsibility as a child to ultimately competing at the highest levels of sport, forged his passion for both personal mastery and empowering others. Together, he and Bishoy dive deep into the value of independent thinking, the power that comes with learning to reframe setbacks, and the importance of presence and gratitude, both in high-performance arenas and everyday life. Whether you’re craving stories of overcoming adversity, insights into high-performance leadership, or just a thought-provoking look at what it means to grow, this episode is packed with the kind of wisdom that reminds us: the comeback really is greater than the setback. Onno grew up in Australia and loved the sports-happy culture, dabbling in multiple sports until finding his lane as a swimmer and then his true passion in his early teens, water polo. Outside of the pool he was a voracious learner and his curiosity was almost insatiable, leading him to take on extra subjects at his school and play music alongside his busy schedule, ultimately setting him up for entry to Stanford University, where his team competed for the National Championship 3 out of his 4 years, thankfully winning the last of those battles. After graduating, he was obsessed with saving the environment. As a mechanical engineer he spent the first 10 year of his career designing “biomimetic” turbomachinery products to reduce energy consumption, and then going on the road to spread the word about them. It was amidst this transition from engineering to sales that he realized his true calling – helping people become better teammates and better versions of themselves, and for the last 13 years he’s been working up and down the organizational hierarchy with managers, directors, VPs, and now mostly the C-suite to create high performing cultures, and highly effective leaders. His coaching clientele currently include Founders and CEOs of venture- and PE-backed companies, as well as Directors at Google and designers at Apple. Onno has also led hundreds of hours of group trainings at various blue collar, white collar and NGO organizations on topics such as giving & receiving Feedback, building Trust, holding each other more Accountable, and adjusting rapidly to change. His warm and engaging manner makes the learning effortless, and his practical engineering core ensures audiences always have actionable takeaways. More on Mile 40: https:mile40podcast.com/ Instagram: @mile40podcast @bishoy_tadros YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BishoyTadros
